President  Lincoln's  Cabinet 

by 

HONORABLE  JOHN  P.  USHER 

Secretary  of  the  Interior  January  7,  1863  -May  15,  1865 

WITH  A 

FOREWORD  AND  A  SKETCH  OF  THE 

LIFE  OF  THE  AUTHOR  BY 

NELSON  H.  LOOM  IS 

General  Solicitor  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company 


/^1/Ur>^y)t^^ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://www.archive.org/details/presidentlincolnOOushe 


President  Lincoln's  Gabinet 

by 
HONORABLE  JOHN  P.  USHER 

Secretary  of  the  Interior  January  7,  1863 --May  75,  1865 


WITH  A 

FOREWORD  AND  A  SKETCH  OF  THE 

LIFE  OF  THE  AUTHOR  BY 

XELSOX  H.  LOOM  IS 

General  Solicitor  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company 


JOHN  PALMER  USHER 


Compliments  of 
JOHN  USHER  LOOMIS 

Attorney,  602  Peters  Trust  Building 

OMAHA,  NEBRASKA 


j&S&L  Ji^ii  yfyfa&L  J£4>$ 


Foreword 

I  was  associated  with  the  Honorable  John  P.  Usher  for 
several  years  just  prior  to  his  death  and  wrote  from  his  dicta- 
tion his  remarks  about  President  Lincoln's  Cabinet,  and  his 
newspaper  interview  about  the  appointment  of  Ulysses  S. 
Grant  as  Lieutenant  General.  His  statement  in  regard  to  the 
issuance  of  Grant's  commission  as  Lieutenant  General  was 
made  in  response  to  a  request  from  the  editor  of  the  St.  Louis 
Globe-Democrat  for  his  recollections  of  that  important  event. 
The  request  stated  in  substance  that  the  anniversary  of 
General  Grant's  appointment  as  chief  of  all  the  Northern 
Armies  would  take  place  within  a  few  days  and  that,  with  the 
exception  of  General  Grant,  he  was  the  only  survivor  of  those 
present  on  that  occasion.  Mr.  Usher's  recollections  were 
thereupon  dictated  to  me,  revised  by  him  and  afterwards 
published  in  the  Globe-Democrat.  They  were  never,  to  my 
knowledge,  placed  in  a  permanent  form  or  given  publicity  to 
others  than  the  readers  of  that  paper. 

Mr.  Usher's  remarks  in  regard  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet 
were  first  made  in  a  speech  delivered  at  a  banquet  given  by 
Mr.  D.  M.  Edgerton  in  honor  of  Judge  D.  D.  Hoag,  in  Wyan- 
dotte, Kansas,  on  June  20,  1887.  The  address  was  impromptu 
and  at  the  urgent  request  of  those  who  heard  him  Mr.  Usher, 
upon  the  following  day,  reduced  his  remarks  to  writing;  and 
again  I  was  the  amanuensis  used  for  the  purpose.  They  were 
put  in  pamphlet  form  and  a  very  limited  number  distributed 
among  those  who  were  present  upon  that  occasion. 

In  view  of  the  interesting  character  and  the  importance 
of  many  of  the  facts  testified  to  by  Mr.  Usher  in  these  state- 
ments, it  has  seemed  worth  while  to  put  them  in  a  permanent 
form  and  to  give  them  a  wider  distribution  than  has  hereto- 
fore been  done ;  and  while  doing  so  to  make  known  some  of  the 
salient  facts  as  to  the  life  and  activities  of  Mr.  Usher  himself. 

Nelson  H.  Loomis. 
Omaha,  Nebraska,  January   1,   1925. 


3 


Copyright  1925 

by 

NELSON  H.  LOOMIS 


John  Palmer  Usher 


JOHN  PALMER  USHER  was  born  in  Brookfield,  Madison 
county,  New  York,  January  9,  1816.  He  was  a  descend- 
ant of  Hezekiah  Usher,  a  bookseller,  who  was  born  in 
England  about  1615,  and  died  in  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
May  14,  1676.  Hezekiah  Usher  was  a  citizen  of  Cambridge 
in  1639,  and  established  himself  in  Boston  in  1646.  He  be- 
came a  selectman  of  the  town  and  as  agent  for  the  Society 
for  Propagating  the  Gospel  purchased  in  England  in  1657 
the  press  and  types  used  for  printing  the  famous  Eliot's 
Indian  Bible. 

John  Palmer  Usher's  great  great  grandfather,  John  Usher, 
was  Lieutenant  Governor  of  New  Hampshire  from  1692  until 
1697,  and  was  reappointed  in  1702.  His  father  was  Dr. 
Nathaniel  Usher,  and  his  mother  (Lucy)  was  the  daughter  of 
John  Palmer  of  Stonington,  Connecticut. 

After  passing  through  the  usual  home  and  school  training, 
John  Palmer  Usher  entered  upon  the  study  of  law  in  the  office 
of  Mr.  Henry  Bennett  of  New  Berlin,  New  York,  and  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  the  chancery  courts  of  New  York 
state  by  Chancellor  Walworth  on  January  17,  1839.  He  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  the  common  law  courts  of  that  state 
by  Chief  Justice  Samuel  Nelson  on  the  following  day. 

During  the  year  1840  Mr.  Usher  moved  to  Rockville, 
Parke  county,  Indiana,  and  shortly  thereafter  established  him- 
self in  Terre  Haute,  Vigo  county,  Indiana,  where  he  re- 
tained his  home  until  his  removal  to  Lawrence,  Kansas,  in 
1865. 

In  1844  he  was  married  to  Miss  Margaret  Patterson, 
daughter  of  General  Arthur  Patterson  of  Indiana,  and  had 
four  sons — Arthur  Patterson,  John  Palmer,  Linton  J.  and 
Samuel  Chambers. 

Upon  locating  in  Terre  Haute,  he  formed  a  partnership, 
for  the  practice  of  law,  with  Mr.  William  D.  Griswold  with 


whom  he  was  associated  for  many  years.  Although  the  partner- 
ship was  finally  dissolved,  and  Mr.  Usher's  brother-in-law, 
Chambers  Y.  Patterson,  took  Mr.  Griswold's  place  in  the  firm, 
Mr.  Griswold  and  Mr.  Usher  remained  warm  personal  friends 
until  Mr.  Usher's  death.  It  was  in  Mr.  Usher's  office  that 
Joseph  G.  Cannon,  Ex-Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, studied  law. 

On  page  64  of  the  Bench  and  Bar  of  Indiana,  published 
in  1895,  there  is  an  interesting  sketch  of  Messrs.  Griswold 
and  Usher,  as  they  appeared  upon  the  convening  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Indiana  on  the  third  day  of  November, 
1843.     It  reads  as  follows: 

"William  D.  Griswold  and  John  P.  Usher  were  with 
them.  The  former,  a  small,  quick  man,  with  bald  head  and 
mild  and  kind  expression  of  countenance,  indicative  of 
shrewdness  and  energy,  an  excellent  lawyer,  afterwards 
President  of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi  Railroad  Co.  The  latter, 
a  man  of  large  frame,  with  blonde  hair,  light  blue  eyes,  and 
the  fairest  complexion,  ruddy  with  health  and  hope,  a  man  of 
much  force,  ambition,  patience  and  learning,  afterwards 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  under  Lincoln;  a  man  whose  courage, 
vehemence  and  pertinacity  at  the  bar,  gave  him  great  influ- 
ence." 

Mr.  Usher  was  prosecuting  attorney  for  the  district  com- 
posed of  Greene,  Vermilion,  Parke,  Putnam,  Vigo,  Clay  and 
Sullivan  counties,  from  1842  to  1844.  He  was  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  legislature  from  Vigo  county  in  1850-1851 .  He  was 
the  Republican  candidate  for  Congress  from  his  district  and 
made  a  vigorous  campaign  in  support  of  his  party's  principles 
in  1856.  He  was  appointed  attorney  general  of  the  state  of 
Indiana  on  November  10,  1861,  and  was  filling  that  position 
when  he  was  appointed  Assistant  Secret arv  of  the  Interior 
on  March  20,  1862. 

Mr.  Usher  was  a  strong  and  successful  practitioner,  had 
a  large  clientele  and  tried  many  important  cases,  both  in 
Indiana  and  Illinois.  Like  Mr.  Lincoln  he  rode  the  circuit 
and  had  a  stable  of  well  selected  riding  and  driving  horses 
which  were  used  to  carry  him  between  the  various  county  seats 
of  the  circuits  in  which  he  practiced.  While  traveling  the 
circuit  he  came  in  frequent  contact  with  Abraham  Lincoln  and 


was  engaged  in  law  suits  with  him.  He  took  the  stump  in 
Mr.  Lincoln's  behalf  and  ardently  supported  him  during  the 
memorable  campaign  of  1860. 

Mr.  Caleb  B.  Smith,  who  had  been  a  Member  of  Congress 
from  Indiana  for  several  terms  and  was  a  close  personal 
friend  of  Mr.  Usher's,  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
in  President  Lincoln's  Cabinet.  When  the  office  of  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  was  created  in  1862,  Mr.  Smith 
induced  Mr.  Usher  to  accept  the  appointment  as  Assistant 
Secretary.  Mr.  Usher  was  not  at  the  time  inclined  to  take  the 
office,  as  he  had  an  ambition  to  be  federal  judge  for  the 
district  of  Indiana  and  hoped  to  receive  the  appointment 
when  a  vacancy  occurred.  Mr.  Smith  promised  to  use  his 
influence  to  secure  Mr.  Usher's  appointment  to  that  position, 
but  in  the  meantime  urged  him  to  assist  in  the  work  of  the 
Interior  Department.  Mr.  Usher  finally  consented  and 
became  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Interior  on  March  20,  1862. 

In  the  fall  of  that  year,  while  Mr.  Usher  was  in  Minnesota 
investigating  the  Indian  outbreak  in  that  state,  he  learned  of 
the  death  of  Judge  Elisha  M.  Huntington,  United  States 
District  Judge  for  the  district  of  Indiana,  which  occurred 
on  October  26,  1862,  and  telegraphed  to  Mr.  Caleb  Smith 
reminding  him  of  his  promise.  Mr.  Smith  responded  that 
he  had  concluded  to  take  the  position  himself,  and  would 
resign  as  Secretary  of  the  Interior  in  favor  of  Mr.  Usher. 

Mr.  Usher  was  not  entirely  satisfied  with  the  arrange- 
ment, but  there  was  nothing  for  him  to  do  but  make  the  best 
of  it  and  he  was  installed  as  Secretary  of  the  Interior  on  Janu- 
ary 8,  1863.  He  continued  in  the  office  until  May  15,  1865, 
when  he  was  succeeded  by  Ex-Senator  James  Harlan  of  Iowa. 
He  was  at  the  bedside  of  President  Lincoln  at  the  time  of  his 
death  and  served  as  Secretary  of  the  Interior  for  just  a  month 
during  President  Johnson's  administration. 

Mr.  Caleb  Smith  evidently  did  not  like  the  drudgery 
incident  to  a  departmental  position,  and  Mr.  James  G.  Blaine 
in  his  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  has  this  comment  to  make 
in  regard  to  his  resignation:  "Mr.  Caleb  B.  Smith  had  been 
prominent  in  the  House  of  Representatives  when  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  a  member,  had  been  popular  as  a  public  speaker  in  the 
west,  but  had  no  aptitude  for  so  serious  a  task  as  the  adminis- 
tration of  a  great  department,  and  did  not  long  retain  his 
position." 

7 


Mr.  Usher  filled  the  position  as  secretary  in  a  most 
satisfactory  manner,  and  Noah  Brooks,  a  newspaper  corres- 
pondent, resident  in  Washington  during  the  war,  and  an  old 
time  friend  of  President  Lincoln's,  has  this  comment  to  make 
on  page  35  of  his  Washington  in  Lincoln  s  Time: 

"Although  Caleb  B.  Smith  of  Indiana,  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  Lincoln's  Cabinet 
his  immediate  successor,  John  P.  Usher,  from  the  same  State, 
is  generally  regarded  as  the  representative  man  in  the  Interior 
Department  during  that  administration;  he  held  office  from 
the  time  of  Smith's  resignation  in  the  autumn  of  1862  to  near 
the  end  of  Lincoln's  life.  Secretary  Usher  was  a  fair,  florid, 
well  nourished  and  comfortable  man,  an  able  lawyer,  a  great 
worker,  and  generally  accessible  to  the  newspaper  men,  who 
for  that  reason  always  had  a  good  word  for  the  good  natured 
and  kindly  disposed  Secretary  of  the  Interior." 

As  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Mr.  Usher  had  supervision 
of  the  public  lands  including  mines,  the  census,  the  Indians, 
pensions,  patents,  public  buildings,  education,  the  custody 
and  distribution  of  publications,  the  government  hospital  for 
the  insane,  the  Columbia  asylum  for  the  deaf  and  dumb  and 
blind,  and  the  accounts  of  marshals,  clerks,  and  officers  of 
federal  courts. 

The  construction  of  the  Capitol  building  was  completed, 
and  the  Statue  of  Freedom  surmounting  the  dome  was  put 
in  place  during  his  administration.  Work  on  the  Washington 
aqueduct  and  the  Potomac  dam  was  under  way  while  he  was 
Secretary,  and  received  his  careful  attention.  His  reports  for 
1863  and  1864  indicate  great  interest  on  his  part  in  the  im- 
provement of  the  streets  and  public  grounds  of  Washington. 
Work  on  the  construction  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  was 
actively  begun  during  his  administration  and  his  1864  report 
shows  that  one  hundred  miles  of  the  road  west  of  Omaha  had 
been  permanently  located  and  that  forty  miles  were  in  process 
of  construction.  His  report  also  shows  that  the  first  section 
of  forty  miles  west  of  Kansas  City  had  been  completed  and 
that  the  tracks  had  been  laid  in  the  second  forty  mile  section. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1865,  being  satisfied  that 
the  war  was  soon  to  end,  Mr.  Usher  became  anxious  to  get 
out  of  political  life  and  locate  in  the  west.  He  wished  to 
engage  again  in  the  practice  of  law  and  to  identify  himself 

8 


with  the  development  of  the  country  beyond  the  Missouri 
river.  His  trip  in  early  life  from  New  York  to  Terre  Haute 
was  made  in  an  open  buggy.  His  time  as  a  member  of  the 
Indiana  legislature  was  devoted  to  a  considerable  extent  in 
the  consideration  of  bills  providing  for  the  construction  of 
canals  and  railroads.  Some  of  his  professional  associates  had 
become  the  heads  of  railroad  corporations.  He,  himself,  had 
been  closely  identified  with  the  act  of  Congress  of  July  2,  1864, 
which  extensively  amended  the  act  of  July  1,  1862,  providing 
for  the  construction  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  and  he 
became  desirous  of  connecting  himself  with  the  building  of  a 
transcontinental  railroad.  It  was  a  great  national  undertaking, 
approved  by  the  platforms  of  Republican  and  Democratic 
parties,  and  the  enterprise  had  a  strong  attraction  for  him. 

After  his  resignation  as  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  he 
accordingly  accepted  the  appointment  of  General  Solicitor 
of  The  Union  Pacific  Railway — Eastern  Division,  which  was 
being  constructed  from  Kansas  City  westward,  and  became 
one  of  the  promoters  in  the  building  of  that  road.  At  the  time 
of  his  appointment  the  road  was  in  operation  for  about 
seventy-five  miles  west  of  Kansas  City.  While  he  was  its 
General  Solicitor  the  road  was  extended  from  there  to  Denver, 
and  in  order  to  comply  with  the  terms  of  the  acts  of  Congress 
it  was  connected  with  the  main  line  of  the  Union  Pacific  at 
Cheyenne  by  the  purchase  and  use  of  the  line  owned  by  the 
Denver  Pacific  Railway  &  Telegraph  Company  which  ex- 
tended from  Denver  to  Cheyenne.  The  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
way Company-Eastern  Division,  afterwards  named  the  Kansas 
Pacific  Railway  Company,  built,  during  Mr.  Usher's  time,  a 
number  of  branch  lines  in  the  state  of  Kansas. 

During  his  incumbency  of  the  position  of  General  Solici- 
tor the  road  was  engaged  in  a  great  deal  of  important  litigation 
involving  its  land  grant  and  its  relations  with  other  railroad 
companies,  and  Mr.  Usher's  name  will  be  found  as  counsel 
for  this  company  in  many  cases  reported  in  early  Federal 
reports  and  reports  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
He  was  also  engaged  in  a  large  number  of  cases  in  the  state 
courts  and  was  an  important  factor  in  helping  to  establish 
the  laws  applicable  to  railroads  in  the  territory  served  by  his 
company.  The  Kansas  Pacific  Railway  Company  was,  on 
January  26,   1880,  consolidated  with  the  main  line  running 


through  Nebraska  under  the  name  of  The  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
way Company.  Mr.  Usher  was  given  the  title  of  General 
Attorney  in  the  new  organization,  and  his  jurisdiction  included 
that  portion  of  The  Union  Pacific  Railway  which  he  repre- 
sented prior  to  the  consolidation.  Mr.  Usher  was  also  counsel 
in  a  number  of  important  land  grant  cases  in  which  the 
railroads  of  Texas  and  Colorado  were  involved.  His  assistant 
for  many  years  was  Mr.  Chas.  Monroe,  now  one  of  the 
Superior  Court  judges  of  Los  Angeles,  California. 

In  1887  he  retired  from  active  work  as  General  Attorney 
with  the  title  of  General  Counsel.  He  died  on  the  13th  day 
of  April,  1889. 

Although  he  never  filled  a  judicial  position,  Mr.  Usher 
was  known  as  Judge  Usher.  He  himself  preferred  the  title 
of  Mister,  but  his  friends  persisted  in  calling  him  Judge.  He 
was  easily  approached,  was  very  democratic  in  his  manners, 
was  an  indefatigable  worker  and  a  great  story  teller.  In 
riding  about  on  trains  he  invariably  sat  in  the  smoking  car 
and  engaged  in  conversation  with  anybody  who  seemed 
willing  to  talk  with  him.  One  of  the  best  stories  told  on  Judge 
Usher  is  given  in  an  address  delivered  by  Mr.  A.  L.  Williams 
before  the  Kansas  Historical  Society: 

"One  of  the  brightest  young  men  of  the  state,  whose 
untimely  death  we  all  deplored  a  few  years  ago,  was  the 
proprietor  of  a  newspaper  and  a  hotel.  He  got  into  a  contro- 
versy with  the  Judge  (Usher)  and  in  an  editorial  denounced 
him  as  haughty  and  fastidious.  The  Judge  wrote  him  a  good 
natured  letter  in  which,  among  other  things,  he  said,  'I  do 
not  think  I  am  haughty,  for  I  always  ride  in  the  smoking  car; 
and  I  know  I  am  not  fastidious,  for  I  once  stopped  three  days 
at  your  hotelV' 


10 


President  Lincoln  9s  Cabinet 

Address  by 
Honorable  John  P.  Usher. 


You  ask  me  to  say  something  about  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabi- 
net. It  is  said  by  naturalists,  I  believe,  that  if  you  give  them 
the  toe  of  an  animal,  and  possibly  a  small  part  of  the  toe-nail, 
they  can  tell  you  what  sort  of  an  animal  it  belonged  to ;  so  I 
will  give  a  few  anecdotes  about  the  members  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
cabinet,  so  that  you  may  know  what  manner  of  men  they 
were. 

The  head  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet  was  Mr.  Seward. 
The  first  vote  I  gave  for  anybody  in  my  life  was  for  him  for 
governor.  After  that  I  came  west,  and  saw  no  more  of  him 
and  thought  no  more  about  him  until  the  great  time  came  for 
the  nomination  in  1860.  I  am  glad  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  the 
sagacity  to  call  him  to  the  head  of  his  Cabinet.  When  I  came 
to  know  more  of  Mr.  Seward,  and  saw  the  relations  existing 
between  him  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  came  to  love  him  more  than 
I  had  ever  expected  to.  He  was  a  man  of  the  very  kindest  feel- 
ings. One  might  have  supposed  he  would  feel  resentful  at  his 
defeat  in  Chicago  and  willing  to  see  Mr.  Lincoln  making,  at 
times,  a  spectacle  of  himself;  for  Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  well 
versed  in  the  amenities  of  life;  but  I  assure  you  that  whenever 
foreign  ambassadors  were  to  meet  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Seward  was 
careful  that  he  should  make  no  mistakes  and  should  appear 
to  the  very  best  advantage.  Was  this  not  a  great  deal  for  a 
rival  to  do1  He  was  as  careful  about  Mr.  Lincoln  as  if  he 
were  his  own  brother.  When  a  foreign  minister  was  to  be 
presented  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Seward  always  suggested  to 
him  in  advance,  what  he  should  say,  where  he  should  stand, 
and  how  he  should  act.  He  was  a  man  who  would  do  all  that, 
when  the  nation  was  in  a  manner  dissolved.  I  never  saw  him 
show  any  resentment.  When  a  number  of  clergymen  wrote 
to  him  admonishing  him  of  the  weighty  cares  and  duties  that 

11 


rested  upon  him  and  begging  him  to  be  more  temperate  in 
his  habits,  he  wrote  a  letter  in  answer  to  them  and  made  it 
ready  for  the  mail.  At  that  point  he  concluded  that  he  would 
not  mail  it  until  the  next  day ;  that  he  would  think  of  the  sub- 
ject until  then.  By  that  time  he  determined  not  to  send  it 
and  took  the  letter  from  his  drawer  and  threw  it  in  the  fire. 
Speaking  of  the  circumstances  to  my  informant,  an  intimate 
friend  of  his,  he  said  he  believed  he  had  character  enough  to 
withstand  the  calumnies  then  afloat  against  him  and  that  he 
would  apologize  to  no  man  or  set  of  men  for  his  habits. 

After  Mr.  Lincoln  was  assassinated  and  after  Mr.  Seward 
returned  to  the  Department  of  State,  I  called  upon  him,  and 
he  said  that  if  he  had  been  able  to  be  out  (he  had  been  thrown 
from  a  carriage  and  was  confined  to  his  room)  Mr.  Lincoln 
would  not  have  gone  to  the  theatre  that  night.  It  seems  that 
he  knew  of  or  anticipated  some  design  or  plot  against  the 
President. 

I  could  say  a  great  deal  more  about  Mr.  Seward  but  I 
have  not  time.  You  can  form  some  idea  of  his  character  from 
what  I  have  told  you.  I  consider  that  he  was  one  of  the  wisest 
statesmen  we  have  ever  had,  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  while  he  was  a 
great  and  good  man,  would  have  had  infinite  trouble  without 
him.  The  utmost  confidence  and  kindly  feeling  existed  be- 
tween these  two  men.  The  people  do  not  know  and  would 
hardly  believe  me  if  I  told  them  their  kindly  feeling  for  each 
other,  and  the  obligation  of  this  nation  to  these  men  for  their 
great  labors  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

During  all  these  days  of  anxiety  and  care  there  were 
occasionally  ludicrous  instances,  which  for  a  time  lightened  the 
gloom.  There  was  a  Swiss,  Mr.  John  Hitz,  living  in  Washing- 
ton who  kept  a  feed  store  and  green  grocery,  upon  the  Avenue, 
south  of  the  capital  grounds.  He  was  Consul  General  of  the 
Republic  of  Switzerland.  Occasionally  a  countryman  of  his 
would  enter  the  army,  and  finding  the  service  uncomfortable, 
would  apply  to  Hitz  to  get  him  discharged.  Hitz  would  make 
the  appeal,  but  generally  concluded  by  saying  that  if  the 
ground  stated  by  him  did  not  compel  the  discharge  of  the 
soldier,  he  wanted  him  to  stay  and  fight — that  the  Swiss  were 
a  liberty  loving  people  and  could  never  be  better  employed 
than  fighting  for  it.  It  is  history  that  the  Government  of 
Great  Britian  was   in  active  sympathy  with  the   rebellion. 

12 


This  sympathy  was  manifested  in  a  great  many  ways,  not 
only  by  that  Government  but  by  a  large  majority  of  the 
people  of  England.  The  Government  affected  a  desire  to  have 
the  war  ended.  The  end  wanted,  however,  was  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  southern  confederacy.  Lord  Lyons,  then 
British  Minister  to  Washington,  was  directed  to  propose  to 
Mr.  Seward  an  arbitration  for  the  settlement  of  the  controver- 
sy. He  advised  Mr.  Seward  of  the  desire  of  his  Government. 
Mr.  Seward  replied  that  the  proposition  seemed  to  emanate 
from  a  humane  and  proper  spirit  and  he  would  consider  it. 
He  told  Lord  Lyons  that  the  United  States  had  a  Republican 
form  of  Government,  that  the  insurgents  who  sought  to  over- 
throw that  form  of  Government  also  claimed  to  have  a  Repub- 
lican form  of  Government;  that  it  would  be  unseemly  and 
could  not  be  expected,  that  the  United  States  would  consent 
to  submit  the  question  of  its  existence  to  a  crowned-head, 
since  all  Monarchies  were  radically  opposed  to  Republics; 
that  Switzerland  was  a  Republic  and  had  an  able  representa- 
tion at  Washington,  Mr.  John  Hitz,  Consul  General,  who  kept 
a  feed  store  and  green  grocery  upon  the  Avenue,  and  suggested 
that  the  whole  matter  be  left  to  him.  I  suppose  that  Lord 
Lyons  thought  by  that  time  that  Mr.  Seward  was  making 
sport  of  him,  and  so  this  matter  of  arbitrament  ended. 

Mr.  Chase  was  a  Dartmouth  College  man.  He  was  an 
able  man  in  every  way,  but  he  was  selfish  and  ambitious. 
He  wanted  above  all  things  to  be  President,  and  I  think  that 
if  he  sawr  or  believed  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  about  to  make  a 
mistake  of  any  sort  which  would  diminish  him  in  popular 
favor  it  would  have  afforded  him  pleasure ;  that  he  would  be 
far  from  doing  or  saying  anything  to  prevent  the  act  from 
being  done,  or  to  extricate  Mr.  Lincoln  if  it  was  done.  Senator 
Pomeroy,  of  Kansas,  put  out  a  circular  saying  that  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  not  qualified  to  manage  the  affairs  of  this  country 
and  to  successfully  conduct  the  war  then  raging.  It  was 
signed  by  Kansas  men  with  others.  It  was  sent  broadcast 
all  over  the  country  under  the  frank  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment; this  privilege  being  used  by  the  bureau  officers,  one  or 
more,  of  the  Treasury  Department.  Many  of  the  circulars 
were  returned  directly  to  President  Lincoln.  Mr.  Chase 
hearing  of  it,  immediately  repaired  to  the  White  House  and 
protested  to  the  President  that  he  knew  nothing  of  it  and  had 
nothing  to  do  with  it.    Mr.  Lincoln  replied  to  him,  as  he  told 

13 


me,  that  he  believed  him,  for  he  thought  it  impossible  for  him 
(Mr.  Chase)  to  have  done  such  a  thing.  This  episode  closed 
out  the  candidacy  of  Mr.  Chase  for  President  in  1864.  But 
he  did  not  abandon  his  ambitious  hopes  to  become  President. 
General  Jackson  had  popularity  in  being  called  Old  Hickory, 
General  Taylor  in  being  called  Old  Rough  and  Ready,  and  the 
admirers  of  Mr.  Lincoln  were  prone  to  call  him  Honest  Old 
Abe.  Mr.  Chase  evidently  thought  that  the  soubriquet  Old 
Greenbacks  would  advance  him  in  popular  favor.  There  were 
about  Washington,  here  and  there,  men  who  had  been  Aboli- 
tionists, and  their  philosophy  led  them  to  pretty  much  ignore 
all  other  political  principles  and  theories.  They  were  all  ad- 
mirers of  Mr.  Chase  and  were  wont  to  call  him  Old  Green- 
backs, apparently  with  the  object  of  getting  the  populace  to 
so  call  him.  He  was  a  remarkably  handsome  man,  and  his 
portrait,  in  its  best  form,  was  printed  upon  the  One  Dollar 
Greenback  notes,  where  the  greatest  number  would  be  most 
likely  to  see  and  become  familiar  with  his  face.  During  the 
canvass  of  1864,  he  made  a  speech  in  Cincinnati  to  an  immense 
multitude.  He  was  popular  in  that  city.  Upon  his  return, 
in  describing  the  scenes  to  the  President  he  said  he  could 
occasionally  hear  voices  all  through  the  crowd  applauding 
and  calling  him  Old  Greenbacks.  When,  however,  he  was 
advanced  by  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  position  of  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  rigorous  times  came  on,  the  army 
disbanded  with  greenbacks  for  their  pay,  the  creditor  class, 
as  it  always  has  and  always  will  do,  began  looking  about  to 
see  how  they  could  get  the  most  of  their  credits  by  diminishing 
the  paying  abilities  of  their  debtors,  Government  as  well  as 
individual,  and  set  up  the  unfounded  claim  that  the  principal 
of  the  bonds  of  the  Government  was  payable  in  gold  coin  and 
that  the  debt  of  individuals  was  payable  in  like  gold  or  silver 
coin,  and  that  greenbacks  were  not  a  legal  tender,  and  this 
because,  as  they  alleged,  the  act  of  Congress  making  them 
legal  tender  was  unconstitutional.  Mr.  Chase,  then  Chief 
Justice,  affirmed  all  these  monstrous  claims.  The  debtor 
class  was  amazed  and  I  imagine  the  holders  of  the  dollar  notes 
with  the  face  of  Mr.  Chase  upon  them  were  a  good  deal  puz- 
zled to  know  what  it  meant,  and  wondered  if  he  could  have 
been  of  the  same  opinion  when  he  was  Secretary  and  directed 
his  face  to  be  put  upon  the  notes,  as  he  was  when  Chief  Justice 
and  decided  they  were  not  legal  tender. 


14 


In  Mr.  Benton's  time,  when  the  war  was  made  upon  the 
banking  system  of  the  country,  he  spoke  of  the  beauty  of  gold 
and  silver  coin  shining  between  the  interstices  of  the  silken 
purse ;  that  nothing  else  was  money.  This  received  the  popular 
applause.  I  won't  say  that  Mr.  Chase  supposed  that  the  time 
was  at  hand  when  the  people  were  ready  to  regard  nothing  as 
money  except  gold  and  silver  coin.  It  cannot  be  denied, 
however,  that  his  opinions  as  a  jurist  were  opposite  his  views 
as  a  statesman. 

After  he  was  appointed  Chief  Justice,  he  was  provided 
with  a  revenue  cutter,  in  which  he  made  a  voyage  to  New 
Orleans.  At  New  Orleans  and  Charleston,  and  may  be  at 
other  ports,  he  addressed  the  blacks.  He  was  than  supposed 
to  be  their  especial  and  unvarying  friend.  Yet  in  1868,  his 
friends  for  him  strove  in  the  Democratic  convention  in  New 
York  for  his  nomination  to  the  presidency  by  that  party  — 
the  party  as  such,  of  undying  and  unwavering  hostility  to 
the  welfare  of  the  colored  people.  If  he  had  received  the 
nomination,  did  he  expect  to  change  the  Democratic  party 
to  his  views,  or  was  he  willing  to  carry  out  theirs?  In  the 
sacred  scriptures,  the  question  is  asked,  "Can  the  Ethiopian 
change  his  skin,  or  the  leopard  his  spots?"  So  we  are  prone 
to  ask,  did  he  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  Democratic 
party  could  be  induced  to  give  fair  play  or  grant  even  justice 
to  the  colored  people?  It  taxes  our  credulity  that  he  ventured 
to  think  so. 

Notwithstanding,  he  was  a  great  man  as  a  statesman  in 
the  Senate  or  in  the  Cabinet.  He  expressed  himself  with 
clearness  and  force.  On  the  bench  he  had  no  superior  in 
expounding  the  Constitution  and  the  law  except,  as  I  feel, 
and  believe  I  ought,  his  decision  on  the  Legal  Tender  act. 
Respecting  that  act  and  all  the  financial  measures  of  the  Gov- 
ernment during  the  time  that  he  was  Secretary,  they  were 
adopted  as  a  necessity.  I  do  not  think  there  was  much  fore- 
thought in  respect  to  them  by  the  Secretary  or  anyone  else, 
until  the  action  was  had  upon  the  emergency  as  it  occurred. 
It  was  impossible  to  support  the  army  and  carry  on  the  war 
by  paying  the  expenses  of  the  Government  in  coin.  The 
issuing  of  paper  was  a  necessity.  When  it  was  found  that 
paper  must  be  issued,  the  purpose  of  all  who  wished  to  preserve 
the  Government  by  force  of  arms,  was  to  make  that  paper  as 
valuable  as  possible,  and  the  chief  element  of  its  value  was 

15 


believed  to  be  in  making  it  a  legal  tender  for  debts.  When 
this  paper  was  likely  to  become  so  abundant  as  to  greatly 
diminish  its  value,  it  was  found  desirable  to  retire  it,  and  so 
Congress  provided  for  that  by  taxing  all  state  bank  issues 
and  the  issue  of  bonds,  with  interest  payable  in  gold  at  six 
per  cent.,  into  which  this  legal  tender  money  might  be  funded. 
All  these  measures  were  successful.  As  I  remember,  they  all 
originated  in  Congress  and  met  with  the  favor  of  the  President, 
and  he  approved  them. 

I  am  not  able  to  say  much  about  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  Mr.  Welles.  I  do  not  think  he  ever  missed  attending 
upon  the  President  on  Cabinet  days.  I  have  no  recollection 
of  ever  hearing  him  express  himself  on  public  affairs,  or  indeed 
about  anything.  He  was  appointed  by  the  President  at  the 
instance  of  Mr.  Hamlin,  the  Vice-President.  I  heard  it  said 
in  those  times  that  there  was  a  usage  for  the  President  to 
allow  the  Vice-President  to  name  one  member  of  the  Cabinet, 
and  by  that  usage  Mr.  Welles  came  to  be  Secretary  of  the 
Navy.  I  witnessed  a  sharp  controversy  between  him  and  Mr. 
Bates,  the  Attorney  General,  upon  some  question  of  maritime 
law;  what  the  question  was  I  have  forgotten;  but  1  observed 
that  Mr.  Welles  was  tenacious  of  his  opinion  and  refused  to 
yield  to  Mr.  Bates. 

The  official  papers  of  Mr.  Welles  will  compare  favorably 
with  those  of  any  of  the  Secretaries  of  Mr.  Lincoln  or  indeed 
of  any  of  his  predecessors  or  successors.  I  remember  to  have 
been  struck  with  the  clearness  and  conciseness  of  his  state- 
ments in  his  official  papers.  His  official  letters  and  report  of 
the  capture  of  the  Alabama  by  the  Kearsage  are  models  of 
conciseness  and  clearness  of  statement.  He  did  not  appear 
to  have  any  intimacy  with  the  President  or  any  member  of  the 
Cabinet,  and  so  far  as  I  discovered,  or  knew,  with  any  other 
person.  He  neither  said  nor  did  anything  to  antagonize  the 
views  of  the  President  or  anyone  who  might  be  supposed  able 
to  influence  the  President  to  his  (Welles')  prejudice. 

When  the  President,  with  the  knowledge  and  advice  of 
Mr.  Seward,  sent  the  naval  expedition  to  Pensacola  without 
the  knowledge  of  Mr.  Welles  or  Mr.  Cameron,  Mr.  Welles 
never  complained  of  the  indignity.  He  was  true  and  faithful 
to  the  powers  that  were  over  him.  The  last  time  I  met  him 
was  when  President  Johnson  was  making  his  famous  journey, 

16 


called  at  the  time  "swinging  around  the  circle,"  Mr.  Welles 
being  one  of  the  party.  After  the  usual  salutations,  Mr. 
Welles  asked  me  how  many  stars  I  had  in  my  flag,  whether 
thirteen  or  thirty-six;  I  told  him  thirty-six  and  with  that  he 
seemed  pleased.  I  think  Mr.  Johnson  was  quite  as  much 
to  his  liking  as  Mr.  Lincoln  was;  yet  you  will  remember  that 
when  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  in  his  eulogy  upon  Mr. 
Seward,  spoke  slightingly  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Welles  became 
indignant  and  made  a  vigorous  protest  against  the  insinuations 
prejudicial  to  the  fame  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Mr.  Welles  had  an 
able  support  in  Mr.  Fox,  his  assistant,  but  no  evidence  exists 
that  Mr.  Fox  indited  any  of  his  official  papers. 

Then  there  was  Mr.  Caleb  Smith,  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  whom  I  succeeded  early  in  January,  1863 — remain- 
ing in  office  until  May,  1865.  I  knew  him  well.  He  was  a 
true  orator.  He  was  a  man  who,  from  the  rostrum,  would 
talk  to  you  until  you  would  feel  the  blood  tingling  through 
your  veins  to  your  finger  ends  and  all  the  way  up  your  spine. 
When  you  meet  a  man  who  can  do  that,  argument  is  at  an 
end;  you  are  carried  away  by  the  irresistable  power  of  elo- 
quence. Caleb  Smith  was  not  an  Abolitionist.  He  said  to 
me  one  day  when  I  was  Assistant  Secretary,  "What  do  you 
think  of  the  President  issuing  a  proclamation  abolishing 
slavery1"  I  said,  "I  do  not  think  well  of  it  at  this  time/' 
He  said,  "If  he  does  I  will  resign  and  go  home  and  attack  the 
administration."  I  suppose  the  propriety  of  the  first  emanci- 
pation proclamation  had  been  discussed.  Mr.  Smith  having 
just  returned  from  the  Cabinet  meeting.  You  see  what  trouble 
Mr.  Lincoln  had.  Mr.  Smith  was  a  man  so  conservative  in 
his  ideas  that  he  felt  that  he  could  not  at  that  time  approve 
of  a  proposition  to  emancipate  the  slaves  in  aid  of  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  rebellion,  though  when  the  first  proclamation  was 
issued  Mr.  Smith  had  changed  his  views  and  favored  it. 

Mr.  Smith  was  born  in  Boston  and  educated  in  Ohio  but 
his  manhood  was  spent  in  Indiana.  He  was  ever  opposed  to 
the  Democratic  party  in  all  its  forms  and  organizations.  He 
was  a  Republican,  but  not  of  the  order  of  Mr.  Julian.  They 
were  the  antipodes  of  each  other.  Yet  he  for  nearly  a  year 
indulged  the  hope  that  the  rebellion  could  be  suppressed 
without  emancipating  the  slaves ;  not  that  he  favored  slavery 
but  because  he  shrank  from  interfering  with  the  right  of 
property  in  slaves.  In  that  respect  he  came  to  be  in  accord 
with  the  Unionists  in  the  slave  states. 

17 


Mr.  Smith  was  an  able  lawyer  and  administered  the 
duties  of  his  office  with  fidelity  and  ability. 

Now  I  want  to  speak  a  few  words  about  Simon  Cameron. 
I  am  glad  to  have  this  opportunity  to  speak  of  him,  because  so 
much,  at  one  time  and  another,  has  been  said  to  his  prejudice. 
I  think  that  he  was,  and  is,  about  as  good  a  specimen  of 
humanity,  of  fairness  and  honesty  and  justice  as  we  ever  had, 
however  good.  Mr.  Lincoln  made  him  Secretary  of  War.  I 
will  tell  you  an  anecdote  or  circumstance  which  occurred  to 
illustrate  what  I  am  going  to  say  about  him.  I  think  it  was 
in  the  early  part  of  1865,  along  in  the  winter — maybe  in 
March — John  Covode  of  Pennsylvania,  whom  we  all  delighted 
to  call  Honest  John,  who  had  not  the  advantages  of  a  college 
education,  or  indeed,  of  scarcely  any  education  in  his  youthful 
days,  came  to  the  Department  one  day.  We  were  great 
friends.  I  do  not  know  why,  but  he  had  taken  a  liking  to 
me  and  I  to  him.  He  said,  "Come  down  to  the  Avenue 
House  tonight  to  meet  some  of  my  friends/'  I  went  down. 
I  found  in  the  dining-room  the  table  spread  along  its  whole 
length  with  a  cold  collation  and  about  forty  seats  at  the  table, 
all  filled  by  Pennsylvanians,  and  I  was  seated  at  the  table  by 
the  side  of  Mr.  Cameron  who  had  lately  returned  from  St. 
Petersburg  where  he  had  been  sent  as  Minister.  There  was 
plenty  of  wine  and  we  helped  ourselves  to  both  food  and  wine. 
By  and  by  Mr.  Covode,  sitting  at  the  end  of  the  table,  reached 
behind  him  and  took  up  a  sword  about  three  and  a  half  feet 
long  standing  there  and  unsheathed  it.  The  sword  was  so 
long  that  it  required  him  to  stretch  his  arms  to  the  utmost. 
"Now,"  said  he,  "this  sword  was  made  and  sent  to  me  by 
my  chum.  He  was  an  apprentice  with  me  in  Massachusetts, 
to  the  blacksmith  trade.  When  we  became  older,  my  chum 
remained  in  Massachusetts  and  followed  the  trade  he  had 
learned.  You  know  what  has  become  of  me  and  what  I  have 
done.  My  old  chum  has  amassed  wealth  and  is  a  true  Union 
man.  He  has  forged  out  this  sword  and  sent  it  to  me  as  a  token 
of  his  patriotism  and  respect  for  what  I  have  tried  to  do." 
After  this  and  some  other  remarks,  speeches  were  called  for. 
One  after  another  spoke,  but  no  notice  was  taken  of  Mr. 
Cameron  or  allusion  made  to  him.  At  length  Covode  called 
on  Cameron  to  speak,  saying,  "Now  we  want  to  hear  from 
Simon  Cameron,  our  old  war  horse."  He  quickly  arose  at  the 
call  and  began  by  speaking  of  the  Republican  party  and  its 
achievements.     He  said  it  had  suppressed  a  great  rebellion; 

18 


it  had  emancipated  millions  of  slaves;  but  its  great  work  was 
not  yet  done;  that  much  remained  to  do;  the  freedom  of  the 
slaves  emancipated  was  yet  to  be  secured  and  ample  provision 
made  for  their  protection  and  for  securing  to  them  equal  rights 
with  all  the  citizens  of  the  nation.  "But  what  are  we  to  think 
of  a  party/'  he  said,  "that,  within  sixty  days  after  going  into 
power,  appoints  a  committee  to  investigate  the  frauds  of  its 
own  members?  They  even  had  the  audacity  to  accuse  me 
of  corruption  in  office — of  making  corrupt  contracts.  I,  who 
during  all  the  time  that  I  was  Secretary  of  War,  never  made 
any  contract  whatever."  During  the  time  he  was  speaking 
he  raised  himself  to  his  utmost  heighth,  his  shoulders  flew 
back  until  his  coat  swung  clear  of  his  body.  His  speech  was 
vehement  and  his  auditors,  who  it  appeared  to  me,  were 
jealous  of  his  fame  and  power,  sat  silent  while  he  spoke.  I 
was  somewhat  surprised  at  his  declaration  that  he  never  made 
any  contracts  while  he  was  Secretary  of  War,  and  after  he  sat 
down  I  fell  into  a  conversation  with  him  about  it.  He  said  all 
contracts  were  made  in  the  Quartermaster  and  Commissary 
Departments;  that  this  thing  of  accusing  him  of  making  cor- 
rupt contracts  was  the  most  preposterous  and  absurd  thing 
of  all.  "For,"  he  said,  "if  I  have  any  ability  whatever,  it  is 
an  ability  to  make  money.  I  do  not  have  to  steal  it.  I  can 
go  into  the  street  any  day,  and  as  the  world  goes,  make  all 
the  money  I  want.  It  was  so  absurd  to  accuse  me  of  that. 
When  the  war  broke  out  I  knew  that  this  railroad  from  Balti- 
more to  Harrisburg,  the  Northern  Central  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  bound  to  be  good  property;  the  soldiers  and  people  de- 
voted to  the  preservation  of  the  Union  traveling  to  Washington 
would  necessarily  be  transported  over  it.  The  stock  was  then 
worth  but  a  few  cents  on  the  dollar.  I  knew  that  from  the 
very  necessity  of  the  case  it  would  advance  in  value  to  par 
or  nearly  so.  I  bought  large  blocks  of  this  stock,  and  told 
Mr.  Lincoln  if  he  would  give  me  ten  thousand  dollars  I  would 
make  him  all  the  money  he  wanted."  I  asked  him  if  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  inclined  to  do  it.  He  said  no;  that  there  was 
his  mistake;  that  the  investment  would  have  been  perfectly 
legitimate  and  that  he  might  as  well  have  made  a  large  sum 
of  money  as  not. 

Now  that  is  Mr.  Cameron,  and  you  will  find  that  there 
is  no  evidence  that  Simon  Cameron  was  a  corrupt  man.  He 
was  ever  faithful  to  the  cause. 


19 


I  was  coming  down  from  Denver  one  day  and  met  Major 
Ed.  Smith.  We  were  coming  along  together.  Upon  the  way 
he  related  the  following  incident  concerning  Mr.  Cameron: 
He  said  he  was  at  the  court  house,  at  Reading,  the  day  after 
Sumpter  was  fired  on;  the  drums  were  beating  in  the  street 
and  he  went  home  and  told  his  father  he  was  going  to  the  war. 
Directly  he  went  to  Washington  with  his  comrades,  and  went 
into  camp  near  the  arsenal.  He  was  not  very  well  pleased 
with  the  position  as  private  and  wanted  to  see  if  he  could  not 
do  a  little  better.  He  went  to  see  Mr.  Cameron,  whom  he 
knew  very  well,  but  could  not  manage  to  see  him.  The  whole 
War  Department  was  filled  and  surrounded  by  people  waiting 
to  see  Mr.  Cameron,  and  it  was  impossible  for  Smith  to  get  in. 
So  he  wrote  Mr.  Cameron  a  note  and  told  him  he  was  camped 
down  near  the  arsenal ;  that  he  wanted  to  see  him,  but  could 
not  for  the  crowd  surrounding  the  Department.  Mr.  Cameron 
had  no  more  than  got  the  note  than  he  sent  an  orderly  to 
Smith,  directing  him  to  come  to  the  Department.  Smith 
went  and  Mr.  Cameron  asked  him  how  long  he  had  been  in 
Washington.  He  answered  he  had  been  there  some  days  and 
had  tried  to  see  him,  but  could  not  for  the  crowd.  "What 
do  you  want?"  said  Mr.  Cameron.  "I  want  you  to  make 
me  a  lieutenant  or  captain  in  the  regular  army,"  Smith 
replied.  Cameron  said '  'Oh,  that  won't  do,  you  shall  be  a  major ; 
no  relation  of  George  Smith  who  voted  for  me  for  the  Senate 
twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago,  shall  be  around  here  with 
such  a  commission  as  that."  That  was  his  feeling  towards 
his  friends.  When  George  Smith  died,  Mr.  Cameron  went 
over  to  Reading  and  stayed  until  he  was  buried.  People 
talked  about  him  and  accused  him  of  corruption  in  office, 
because  he  had  such  friends  outside  of  his  party.  They  said 
he  must  have  bought  them.  Don't  you  believe  a  word  of  it. 
He  did  no  such  thing.  He  was  faithful  and  true.  In  close 
elections,  he  received  votes  from  the  opposing  party,  because 
they  were  his  friends  and  grateful  for  favors  long  before 
bestowed. 

In  this  connection  there  is  another  incident  in  which 
Mr.  Cameron  figures,  which  may  be  interesting :  At  a  meeting 
of  the  Cabinet,  the  chief  topic  of  discussion  was  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  armies  and  putting  them  in  the  field,  and  after 
talking  a  while  they  came  to  the  conclusion  that  they  didn't 
know  anything  about  the  subject — knew  but  little  about  it, 

20 


and  would  want  to  inquire  how  this  or  that  would  do,  and  what 
ought  to  be  done,  and  the  different  members  would  say.  "Well, 
we  don't  know;"  (this  is  the  way  Lincoln  told  it  to  me)  "we 
will  go  and  see  General  Scott  and  see  what  he  says  about  it." 
So  one  bleak,  rainy  day  they  went  over  to  his  quarters.  His 
room  was  bare  of  furniture.  Gen.  Scott  was  so  infirm  that 
he  could  not  come  to  the  White  House,  or  remain  in  the 
War  Department  and  he  had  taken  a  room  for  his  quarters 
across  the  street,  near  the  War  Department.  When  they 
went  in  he  had  a  stick  or  two  upon  the  fire  burning  brightly, 
and  they  all  took  seats  around  the  fire.  Gen.  Scott  was  lying 
on  a  low  and  broad  lounge  in  one  corner  of  the  room ;  he  had 
a  strap  attached  to  a  ring  in  the  ceiling,  and  another  ring  at 
the  end,  reaching  down  over  him  a  little  below  his  breast, 
which  he  was  accustomed  to  take  hold  of  and  pull  himself 
up  with.  He  was  very  large  and  plethoric.  After  they  sat 
down  he  got  hold  of  that  ring  and  with  some  trouble  pulled 
himself  to  an  upright  position  and  swung  his  feet  off  the  lounge 
upon  the  floor.  Before  they  said  anything  they  sat  there 
looking  at  him,  and  he  commenced  his  speech  to  the  President. 
He  said,  "I  am  an  old  man.  I  have  served  my  country  faith- 
fully, I  think,  during  a  long  life.  I  have  been  in  two  great 
wars  and  fought  them  through,  and  now  another  great  war 
is  impending  and  I  am  nominally  at  the  head  of  the  army,  but 
I  don't  know  how  many  men  are  in  the  field,  where  they  are, 
how  they  are  armed,  how  they  are  equipped  or  what  they  are 
capable  of  doing  or  what  reasonably  ought  to  be  expected  of 
them.  Nobody  comes  to  tell  me  and  1  am  in  ignorance  about 
it,  and  can  form  no  opinion  respecting  it.  I  think  under  all 
the  circumstances  I  had  better  be  relieved  from  further  serv- 
ice to  my  country."  It  was  a  very  pathetic  speech.  They  all 
sat  silent  and  made  no  reply.  At  length  Seward  said  in  rather 
a  cheerful  tone,  hitching  himself  in  his  chair  in  his  usual  way, 
"I  think  I  see  a  way  out  of  this."  Cameron — it  was  not  long 
after  the  Pensacola  affair — flew  into  a  passion  at  once  and  said, 
addressing  Seward,  "I  suppose  you  do!  You  are  always  med- 
dling with  that  which  don't  concern  you!"  This  little  ebulli- 
tion set  them  all  laughing  and  so  they  directly  got  up  and 
bade  the  General  good-by  and  went  off.  The  point  of  it  was 
that  it  amused  Lincoln  so  to  see  Cameron  turning  on  Seward 
and  saying  that  he  was  always  meddling  with  that  which 
didn't  concern  him.  Said  Lincoln  to  me,  "I  suppose  he  refer- 
red to  the  Pensacola  affair."     So  you  see  Mr.  Cameron  was 

21 


smarting  under  the  action  of  the  President  and  Mr.  Seward 
in  sending  out  the  Pensacola  expedition  without  his  knowledge. 

Now  I  have  to  speak  of  Mr.  Stanton,  and  one  of  the 
troubles  with  him  was  that  he  was  a  dyspeptic  and  because  of 
that  his  temper  was  irascible  and  unequable.  I  was  with  him 
one  day  in  the  Cabinet  and  his  speech  to  me  was  rude  and 
offensive.  I  determined  I  would  never  speak  to  him  again. 
Relating  the  circumstance  to  a  friend  he  said,  "You  do  not 
know  what  a  man  will  do  who  is  a  dyspeptic/'  I  said  he  was 
no  dyspeptic.  He  replied  that  he  was  and  the  worst  afflicted 
man  he  ever  saw.  I  said  I  hardly  thought  so.  At  the  next 
Cabinet  meeting  he  came  in  as  cheery  as  could  be.  He  said, 
"Does  any  member  of  the  Cabinet  want  to  name  some  one 
for  appointment  in  the  Quartermaster  or  Commissary  service?" 
— that  there  were  half  a  dozen  or  more  to  be  appointed.  I 
promptly  said,  "Yes,  I  do."  A  few  years  before  I  had 
defended  a  youth  against  an  accusation  involving  life  and 
liberty.  He  had  gone  to  Iowa,  grown  to  manhood,  and 
joined  a  regiment  of  cavalry  in  that  state.  He  was  a  warrant 
officer  in  the  regiment  and  was  charged  with  duties  which 
belonged  to  the  Quartermaster's  Department.  The  superior 
officer  concluded  that  it  would  be  to  the  advantage  of  the 
service  if  he  could  be  appointed  to  a  position  in  the  Quarter- 
master's Department.  So  he  came  to  Washington  and 
naturally  came  to  me  to  secure  the  appointment  for  him. 
Because  of  my  interview  with  Stanton  a  few  days  before,  I 
informed  him  that  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  help  him ;  that 
it  would  avail  nothing  for  me  to  make  the  application.  He 
informed  me  that  he  would  leave  by  the  afternoon  train  for 
his  regiment.  But  how  soon  the  whole  thing  changed!  I 
was  able  to  convey  to  him  his  good  fortune  at  the  depot  as 
he  was  about  to  take  the  train.  So  I  concluded  that  it  was 
my  duty  to  forgive  Mr.  Stanton.  His  career  was  marked  by 
similar  incidents.  Mr.  Stanton  had  able  and  devoted  friends 
and  admirers.  Mr.  Moorehead,  an  iron  master  of  Pittsburg, 
then  a  member  of  Congress,  was  an  especial  friend  and 
admirer  of  his.  One  day  Mr.  Moorehead  was  in  Stanton's 
office  and  a  commissioned  officer  of  inferior  rank  came  in 
wearing  his  uniform.  Stanton  immediately  commenced  upon 
him  in  the  rudest  possible  manner  and  without  giving  him 
any  opportunity  to  explain,  wanted  to  know  why  he  was  there, 
and  why  he  was  not  in  the  field  with  his  regiment,  and  so  he 

22 


went  on.  The  officer  turned  upon  his  heel  and  left  at  once. 
Mr.  Moorehead  immediately  remarked.  "Why  did  you  treat 
that  man  so?"  Mr.  Stanton  replied,  "I  did  not  mistreat  him." 
He  was  answered,  "Yes  you  did,  and  very  deeply  insulted 
him.  He  has  gone  away  justly  angry  and  will  not  soon  forget 
this."  Mr.  Stanton  called  his  door-keeper  and  directed  him 
to  run  after  the  man  and  bring  him  back.  He  was  soon  again 
in  his  presence  and  Stanton  said,  "Mr.  Moorehead  here  says 
I  insulted  you."  The  officer  replied,  "Yes  you  did,  in  a  most 
offensive  manner.  I  have  been  in  the  field  with  my  regiment 
without  any  leave  of  absence  for  two  years  or  more,  I  got  leave 
to  come  here,  my  object  principally  being  to  see  you  and 
pay  you  my  personal  respects,  and  this  is  the  way  I  have  been 
received  and  treated."  Stanton  immediately  made  the  most 
ample  apology  and  protested  that  he  intended  no  offense. 

One  day  in  a  conversation  with  an  ex-member  of  Congress 
from  Philadelphia,  whose  habits  had  been  to  his  great  dis- 
advantage, in  discussing  Mr.  Stanton  and  his  character,  and 
speaking  of  his  rude  and  offensive  manners,  he  told  me  that  on 
one  occasion  several  years  before,  he  was  in  Pittsburg  and  in 
want  of  money.  Stanton  was  practicing  law  there  and  he 
applied  to  him  for  a  loan  and  was  rudely  repulsed.  Upon 
going  to  his  room  some  hours  after  he  found  twenty  dollars 
between  the  leaves  of  a  book  with  a  note  from  Stanton  that 
he  had  left  the  money  for  him  and  if  he  needed  more  to  apply 
to  him.  After  Stanton  removed  to  Washington  this  gentleman 
had  the  management  of  an  important  suit  with  a  fee  condition- 
al. He  employed  Mr.  Stanton  to  assist  him.  The  suit  was 
determined  in  his  favor  and  he  received  the  stipulated  com- 
pensation, amounting  to  several  thousand  dollars.  He  took 
the  money  to  Mr.  Stanton,  told  him  what  he  had,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  divide  the  money  into  equal  parts,  and  handed  the 
one-half  to  Mr.  Stanton  for  his  compensation.  Stanton  took 
it  and  counted  out  a  part  and  handed  the  major  portion  to 
this  gentleman.  He  at  once  said,  "It  is  not  mine,  it  is  fairly 
yours,  and  I  want  you  to  keep  it."  Stanton  replied,  "Take  it 
or  I  will  put  it  in  the  stove,  it  is  not  mine,  I  have  got  all  I  am 
entitled  to."  You  will  see  from  this  his  remarkable  peculiari- 
ties. He  had  an  only  son.  He  had  taken  care  to  give  him  a 
superior  education  at  Kenyon  College.  This  son  was  possessed 
of  a  most  lovable  character.  He  grew  to  manhood  and  sur- 
vived his  father  a  few  years.     He  was  a  lawyer  of  note  and 

23 


good  promise.  One  would  suppose  that  Stanton  would  have 
at  least,  in  the  making  of  his  will,  bestowed  upon  him  his 
library,  but  when  his  will  came  to  be  published  it  was  found 
that  he  had  not  given  him  a  cent  or  a  scrap  of  any  kind,  book 
or  anything  else.  Yet  Mr.  Stanton  was  possessed  of  a  consid- 
erable fortune,  his  estate  amounting  to  nearly  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  How  will  you  account  for  all  this?  His 
son  gathered  up  all  his  father's  loose  property,  books  and 
everything  else  and  submitted  it  to  sale  without  a  word  of 
complaint. 

From  the  circumstances  which  I  have  related  you  can 
form  some  judgment  of  the  character  of  this  extraordinary 
man.  He  was  a  man  of  immense  mental  power.  Upon  occa- 
sions I  have  heard  him  express  himself  in  speaking  of  the  men 
who  plunged  this  country  into  war  in  almost  paralyzing  terms. 
He  was  devoted  to  the  cause  he  was  striving  to  serve  and  gave 
all  his  energies  to  it.  Night  after  night  he  remained  in  his 
office  until  a  late  hour  and  sometimes  until  daylight;  not 
unfrequently  would  his  carriage  be  found  standing  at  the  door 
waiting  for  him  when  daylight  came.  No  enemy  of  his  ever 
had  the  audacity  to  charge  him  with  corruption  in  office.  Mr. 
Seward  appreciated  and  respected  him.  Sometimes  he  used 
to  call  him  the  Carnot  of  the  war,  because  of  his  devotion, 
his  ability  and  his  faithfulness.  He  enjoyed  the  confidence 
and  unfaltering  friendship  of  the  President.  His  foibles  and 
his  irascibilities  were  overlooked  and  unconsidered  by  the 
President.  Mr.  Lincoln  appreciated  his  loyalty,  his  devotion 
and  his  ability.  Upon  one  or  more  occasions  he  was  known  to 
have  taken  the  written  requests  of  the  President  and  to  have 
torn  them  into  fragments  and  stamped  them  beneath  his 
feet.  This  conduct  being  reported  to  the  President  he  simply 
said,  "Well  I  have  not  much  influence  with  this  Administra- 
tion but  expect  to  have  more  with  the  next."  The  truth  was 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  told  Mr.  Stanton  that  if  he  made 
requests  of  him  which  would  injure  the  public  service  if 
granted,  he  was  at  liberty  to  disregard  them.  Yet  it  seems  that 
Stanton  was  hardly  justified  in  tearing  these  requests  in  pieces 
in  the  presence  of  strangers. 

Mr.  Stanton  was  a  profound  lawyer  and  a  great  orator. 
After  he  was  Secretary  he  delivered  one  or  more  addresses 
advocating  the  election  of  General  Grant  for  the  presidency, 
which  were  unsurpassed.    He  had  enemies — always  had  them, 

24 


but  do  or  say  what  they  could  they  were  unable  to  supplant 
him  in  the  public  estimation.  Had  he  lived  he  would  have 
acquired  great  fame  in  the  judicial  position  to  which  General 
Grant  had  appointed  him.  It  may  justly  be  said  that  he  gave 
his  life  a  sacrifice  to  the  welfare  and  the  saving  of  the  Nation, 
and  his  memory  should  ever  be  held  dear. 

Edward  Bates,  from  Missouri  was  the  Attorney  General, 
first  appointed  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  Mr.  Bates  was  named  for  the 
office  of  President  in  the  convention  which  finally  selected 
Mr.  Lincoln  for  the  candidate  of  the  Republican  party.  So 
was  Mr.  Seward,  Mr.  Cameron  and  Mr.  Chase.  Thus  you 
see  that  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  selection  of  his  cabinet  officers, 
named  all  his  rival  candidates  in  the  convention.  Mr.  Bates 
had  a  very  considerable  following.  He  was  a  man  of  unosten- 
tatious manners,  easily  approached  by  all  who  wished  to  see 
him  and  highly  respected  by  all.  He  was  born  in  Virginia, 
but  emigrated  to  St.  Louis  while  he  was  yet  a  young  man. 
He  became,  and  was  an  eminent  lawyer  and  had  great  success 
in  his  profession  without  acquiring  much  fortune.  While  he 
was  Attorney  General  he  rendered  important  service  to  the 
Government.  Early  in  the  Administration  he  was  called 
upon  for  an  opinion  touching  the  alleged  non-citizenship  of 
people  of  African  descent.  By  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  Dred  Scott's  case  it  was  claimed  that  negroes  were 
not  citizens,  and  it  was  accordingly  said  by  many  that  that 
decision  held  that  the  colored  people  had  no  rights  which  white 
men  were  bound  to  respect.  Mr.  Bates  in  a  very  able  opinion 
declared  that  persons  of  African  blood,  of  whatever  degree, 
born  in  the  United  States  were  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  his  opinion  upon  that  subject  was  followed  and  became 
the  law  of  the  Administration.  The  Dred  Scott  decision  was 
no  more  heard  in  Israel.  Mr.  Bates  was  shrewd.  He  avoided 
antagonizing  others  whenever  he  could,  but  when  he  was 
driven  to  it  he  was  firm  and  unmovable.  I  remember  one 
occasion  when  I  was  greatly  benefited  by  his  shrewdness. 
By  the  Oregon  organic  act,  it  is  provided  that  certain  mission- 
ary stations  with  one  section  of  land  should  be,  and  were 
granted  to  the  missionary  societies  occupying  said  stations. 
The  Methodists,  conceiving  themselves  entitled  to  the  station 
which  was  near  The  Dalles  upon  the  Columbia  river,  proceeded 
to  mark  out  irregular  lines  around  an  area  of  land  amounting 
to  six  hundred  and  forty  acres,  within  which  lines  there  was 

25 


a  population  of  some  four  hundred  people  whose  possession 
was  adverse  to  the  claim,  and  insisted  that  there  should  be  a 
patent  issued  for  this  irregular  tract  of  land.  I  was  beseeched 
by  the  leading  members  of  that  denomination  to  direct  the 
issue  of  a  patent,  but  I  was  not  satisfied  that  it  could  be 
legally  done.  I  was  reminded  that  that  denomination  of 
people  had  with  great  unanimity  supported  the  President  and 
the  war,  which  I  well  knew.  The  pressure  brought  to  bear 
upon  me  was  persistent  and  I  was  very  much  perplexed  as  to 
what  I  should  do.  If  I  issued  the  patent  the  effect  might  be 
very  injurious  to  the  people  living  upon  the  land — if  I  refused 
to  issue  it,  I  would  greatly  offend  a  large  and  influential 
following  of  the  Administration.  One  day  I  received  a  note 
from  Henry  S.  Lane,  then  a  Senator  from  Indiana,  and  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  church,  requesting  me  to  come  to 
the  Capitol.  I  went  up  and  found  an  assembly  in  the  marble 
room  of  the  Senate  chamber,  consisting  of  several  of  the 
Methodist  bishops  and  a  great  many  members  of  Congress  of 
both  houses.  I  at  once  suspected  why  my  presence  was  de- 
sired, but  I  did  not  have  to  wait  long  for  I  was  soon  advised 
of  what  was  wanted  —  that  I  should  direct  the  Commissioner 
of  the  Land  Office  to  prepare  a  patent  for  this  land  near  The 
Dalles.  I  said  it  was  a  very  intricate  question  and  one  which 
I  had  not  decided  and  was  not  yet  prepared  to  decide — but 
that  I  was  then  engaged  in  an  examination  of  the  question, 
and  would  devote  my  attention  to  it  without  delay.  Mr.  Lane, 
among  his  many  other  good  qualities,  was  celebrated  for  his 
sense  of  justice  and  propriety.  He  at  once  spoke  out  and 
said,  "You  are  quite  right,  it  cannot  be  expected  that  you  will 
direct  a  patent  to  be  issued  unless  you  are  satisfied  that  the 
act  of  Congress  will  justify  you  in  doing  so."  I  bowed  my 
acknowledgments  straightway  and  left  the  room.  In  my  per- 
plexity I  thought  of  Mr.  Bates,  and  soon  thereafter  meeting 
him  I  explained  to  him  my  trouble  and  told  him  I  contem- 
plated asking  him  his  official  opinion  upon  the  subject.  He 
said  he  had  in  his  time  settled  a  great  many  controversies  with 
religious  organizations,  that  he  made  it  a  point  never  to  an- 
tagonize them,  and  that  with  gentleness  and  kind  words  there 
was  no  difficulty  in  making  peace  among  them.  So  I  sent 
the  case  to  him  and  in  a  few  days  he  returned  a  brief  answer 
advising  that  I  should  refrain  from  considering  the  subject 
any  further  since  the  patent  would  be  of  no  value  to  the 
church  because  if  the  right  existed  by  virtue  of  the  act  of 

26 


Congress  it  would  not  be  strengthened  a  particle  by  the  patent, 
if  I  decided  to  advise  the  issuing  of  a  patent.  On  the  other 
hand  if  I  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  lands  were  not 
granted  to  the  church,  and  upon  that  ground  refused  to 
advise  the  issuing  of  the  patent,  it  might  embarrass  the  church 
in  the  litigation  advised  by  him.  His  opinion  was  submitted 
to  the  Bishops  and  they  appeared  to  be  satisfied  with  it.  So 
a  settlement  was  reached  of  a  controversy  which  might  have 
become  extremely  troublesome,  for  if  a  patent  had  been  is- 
sued to  the  church  the  three  or  four  hundred  settlers  at  The 
Dalles  would  have  clamored  against  it;  and  if  the  decision 
had  been  against  the  issuing  of  the  patent,  ugly  complaint 
would  have  come  up  from  the  church.  Out  of  this  difficulty 
the  Department  was  extricated  by  the  act  of  Mr.  Bates. 

Mr.  Bates  often  said  to  me  that  all  there  was  left  of  a 
man  after  arriving  at  the  age  of  seventy  were  the  patches 
and  shreds  that  he  had  saved  up  as  he  went  along.  When  he 
arrived  at  the  age  of  seventy  he  resigned  and  returned  to 
St.  Louis,  where  he  resided  for  several  years  thereafter  in 
quiet  repose,  loved  by  many  friends  and  venerated  by  all. 
A  beautiful  statue  has  been  erected  in  one  of  the  parks  in 
St.  Louis  to  his  memory. 

Mr.  Montgomery  Blair  was  the  first  Postmaster  General 
under  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Republican  party.  He  was  faithful  and  devoted  to  the  de- 
clared principles  of  that  party.  It  cannot  be  truly  said  that 
he  ever  swerved  from  them.  He  abhorred  secession  and  re- 
bellion. He  cordially  approved  of  the  emancipation  procla- 
mations, but  he  did  not  approve  of  the  reconstruction  plan 
finally  adopted. 

During  his  incumbency  of  the  office  of  Postmaster 
General  many  reforms  and  changes  for  the  benefit  of  the 
service  were  made,  to  its  great  advantage.  The  patronage 
of  his  office  was  then  immense,  but  very  much  greater  now. 
In  his  appointment  to  office  and  recommendations  of  appoint- 
ment, he  applied  the  Jeffersonian  test,  "Is  he  capable  and  is 
he  honest?"  His  great  care  was  not  to  appoint  any  one  to 
office  who  was  indifferent  to  the  success  of  the  Union  arms. 
That  was  made  the  test.  Indeed  that  was  the  test  in  all  the 
Departments.  That  a  man  had  been,  or  was  a  Democrat 
was  no  objection  to  his  appointment  to  office.    Applying  this 

27 


test,  it  is  true,  there  were  not  very  many  Democrats  appointed, 
though  we  did  not  regard  any  man  a  Democrat  enough  to 
hurt,  if  he  was  honestly  in  favor  of  maintaining  the  Govern- 
ment. This  rule  was  applied  in  the  appointment  to  office  in 
the  army  and  in  promotions.  Whoever  will  carefully  read 
and  consider  the  history  of  those  times  will  be  satisfied  of  the 
truth  of  this  statement.  It  is  to  Mr.  Blair's  credit  that  his 
lofty  character  exempted  him  from  any  accusation  of  misuse 
of  his  power  or  of  his  office. 

Before  the  end  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  first  term  Mr.  Blair 
resigned  and  Governor  William  Dennison,  of  Ohio,  was 
appointed  his  successor.  Mr.  Dennison  was  Ohio's  war  gov- 
ernor. He  supposed  that  it  was  his  duty  to  attend  to  the 
expressed  wishes  of  persons  who  arrogated  to  themselves  the 
claim  of  being  genuine  and  Simon  pure  Republicans.  There 
were  great  numbers  of  that  particular  class  of  people  sojourn- 
ing in  and  about  Washington,  claiming  the  right  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree  to  dictate  as  to  who  should  have  office.  An 
aged  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Allison  was  postmaster  at 
Georgetown,  at  the  time.  He  was  an  old  citizen  of  the  Dis- 
trict, Mayor  of  Georgetown,  and  respected  by  all  but  these 
new  comers.  They  conceived  the  idea  of  having  Mr.  Allison 
removed,  and  accordingly  lodged  with  Mr.  Dennison  a 
ponderous  petition,  praying  for  his  removal.  The  Governor 
brought  it  with  him  to  the  Cabinet  meeting  and  apparently 
was  about  to  submit  it  for  consideration.  He  explained  what 
it  was  and  expressed  his  ignorance  of  the  usual  course  of  pre- 
senting such  matters.  Thereupon,  Mr.  Seward  said,  "Well 
I  know  Mr.  Allison  very  well.  When  I  came  here  as  a  Senator 
from  New  York,  I  wanted  a  seat  in  the  Episcopal  church.  The 
people  here  considered  me  an  Abolitionist  and  determined 
among  themselves  that  I  should  not  have  a  seat  in  the  church. 
This  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  Mr.  Allison,  he  came  to  me 
and  said  he  owned  a  pew  in  the  church  and  that  it  was  at 
my  service;  that  I  should  sit  there  no  matter  who  objected, 
and  I  did."  By  this  time  a  broad  grin  came  over  the  faces 
of  the  President  and  all  of  us  and  Mr.  Lincoln  said,  "Oh,  I 
know  Mr.  Allison,"  and  Governor  Dennison  folded  up  the 
papers  and  that  is  the  last  we  heard  of  it.  So  things  went 
with  him  as  Postmaster  General  the  same  as  they  had  when 
Mr.  Blair  occupied  that  position.  Whoever  sympathized 
with  the  rebels  were  considered  as  "offensive  partisans"  and 
were  relieved  of  office. 

28 


Governor  Dennison  was  a  man  of  remarkably  delightful 
manners,  of  good  address,  faithful  and  devoted  in  maintaining 
the  cause  of  the  Union  and  was  respected  by  everybody  who 
knew  him.  Mr.  Dennison  was  in  the  Cabinet  when  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  assassinated  and  remained  several  months  after 
Mr.  Johnson  was  inaugurated. 

James  Speed,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  succeeded  Mr. 
Bates  as  Attorney  General.  I  suppose  his  appointment  arose 
from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  desirous  of  making  some 
special  recognition  of  the  Speeds,  of  Kentucky,  growing  out 
of  the  fact  that  Joshua  Speed,  the  father  of  James,  had  in 
years  gone  by,  been  the  intimate  friend  and  associate  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  at  Springfield.  Joshua  Speed  had  returned  to  Ken- 
tucky and  was  enjoying  a  life  of  ease  and  comfort.  He  was 
a  devoted  Union  man  and  did  not  want  office,  or  special 
recognition.  He  was  only  anxious  for  the  success  of  his 
friend,  the  President.  The  name  of  James  Speed  was  sent 
to  the  Senate  for  confirmation  at  or  about  the  time  that  Mr. 
Chase  was  nominated  for  Chief  Justice.  The  Senate  promptly 
confirmed  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Chase  but  omitted  to  confirm 
or  pass  upon  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Speed.  Mr.  Lincoln  ob- 
serving this,  was  quite  annoyed.  Although  Mr.  Chase  was 
confirmed  his  commission  was  not  signed.  Some  of  his  friends 
inquiring  of  the  President  why  the  commission  was  not  de- 
livered, he  quaintly  remarked,  'The  Senate  has  not  acted 
upon  my  nomination  of  Mr.  Speed;  when  that  is  done  I  will 
consider  whether  I  will  deliver  the  commission  to  Mr.  Chase 
or  not."  It  was  not  long  after  this  remark  before  the  Senate 
confirmed  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Speed.  Mr.  Speed  was  not 
widely  known  as  a  lawyer,  but  he  had  eminence  in  his  own 
state,  and  my  understanding  was  that  he  stood  at  the  head  of 
the  bar  in  Louisville.  His  learning  and  ability,  well  qualified 
him  for  the  office.  He  lately  passed  away  without  a  stain  or 
blemish  upon  his  name  or  fame. 

After  Mr.  Chase  resigned  his  office  as  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  Mr.  Wm.  Pitt  Fessenden,  of  Maine,  was  appointed 
his  successor.  He  had  been  a  Senator  for  many  years  and 
Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee.  He  was  justly  regarded 
as  a  leader  in  the  Senate.  His  abilities  and  integrity  were 
never  questioned  nor  criticised.  He  was  Secretary  but  a  few 
months  when  he  retired  from  the  Treasury. 

29 


Hugh  McCullough,  of  Indiana,  succeeded  him.  He  was 
at  the  time  of  his  appointment  Comptroller  of  the  Currency. 
He  was  a  native  of  Maine,  I  believe,  educated  to  the  law  and 
at  one  time  Probate  Judge  of  Allen  county,  Indiana.  Until 
he  came  to  Washington  to  discharge  the  duties  of  Comptroller 
of  the  Currency  he  had  been  a  bank  officer  for  twenty-five 
or  thirty  years.  He  was  appointed  to  the  office  one  or  two 
months  before  Mr.  Lincoln  was  assassinated  and  remained 
Secretary  during  the  Administration  of  Mr.  Johnson.  His 
career  as  an  officer  of  the  bank  seemed  to  have  impressed  upon 
him  the  sense  of  obligation  to  the  creditor  class,  to  take  care 
and  see  that  the  paper  discounted  by  the  bank  was  made 
perfectly  secure.  In  his  time  the  bank  adopted  a  plan  by 
which  the  names  of  the  debtor  and  his  sureties  should  be  signed 
upon  the  face  of  the  note  instead  of  accepting  the  names  of 
the  sureties  in  the  form  of  indorsements  upon  the  back  of  the 
note  and  thus  avoid  the  necessity  of  protest.  That  was  about 
all  the  improvements  in  the  way  of  banking  that  I  am  aware 
of  during  his  time  as  cashier  and  president  of  banks.  It  was 
a  good  thing  for  the  banks  and  likely  to  save  much  inconven- 
ience and  trouble.  When  he  came  to  be  Secretary,  it  appeared 
to  many  that  he  was  not  conscious  that  his  position  was 
changed;  that  he  was  no  longer  acting  for  the  creditor  class, 
but  for  the  people;  that  his  effort  seemed  to  be  to  make  the 
creditors  of  the  Government  more  secure  and  their  credits 
more  valuable,  though  it  might  be  opposed  to  the  interests 
of  the  tax  payers  who  had  the  debt  to  pay.  Many  thought 
that  he  was  upon  the  wrong  side  of  the  counter — that  he  ought 
to  have  taken  his  place  with  the  tax  payers  instead  of  the  bond 
and  note  holders;  that  it  was  unwise  for  him  in  behalf  of 
the  Government  to  insist  upon  giving  the  note  and  bond  of 
the  Government  with  interest,  when  the  creditor  was  willing 
to  hold  the  note  or  greenback  of  the  Government  without 
interest;  that  it  was  not  good  financiering  to  advocate  the 
giving  of  a  Government  bond  with  interest  for  paper  which 
bore  no  interest,  or  less  interest  than  the  bond.  John  Cavode 
of  whom  I  have  already  spoken,  then  a  Member  of  Congress, 
believing  with  others  that  the  funding  process  was  injurious 
to  the  tax  payers  offered  and  secured  the  passage  of  a  resolu- 
tion through  the  House  disapproving  of  the  further  funding 
of  greenbacks  and  non-interest  paper;  and  afterwards,  Cavode 
being  at  the  Treasury  Department,  the  Secretary  called  Mr. 
Cavode's  attention  to  the  resolution  and  told  him  that  he 

30 


was  injuring  the  credit  of  the  Government.  Cavode  replied 
by  asking  him  if  the  Government  was  in  the  market  seeking 
to  borrow  money,  or  whether  it  was  trying  to  pay  its  debts. 
Upon  being  answered  that  the  Government  was  not  seeking 
to  borrow  any  money,  Cavode  replied,  'Then  I  am  not  so 
very  solicitous  about  the  credit  of  the  Government;  it  can 
pay  its  debts  more  easily  if  the  holders  of  its  paper  do  not 
consider  it  equal  to  gold."  Was  that  not  a  more  common 
sense  view  to  take  of  the  subject  ?  About  his  policy  and  whe- 
ther it  brought  upon  the  country  the  hard  times  we  experienc- 
ed, men  differed  in  opinion.  There  were  however,  but  few, 
embarrassed  with  debt,  that  approved  of  his  policy;  and  today 
there  is  scarcely  one  to  be  found  in  favor  of  taking  up  by 
payment  in  coin  or  otherwise,  the  legal  tender  notes  of  the 
Government  now  outstanding. 

Mr.  McCullough  was  a  man  of  great  integrity,  who 
undoubtedly  believed  that  his  policy  was  correct.  Whether 
it  was  for  the  best  or  otherwise  cannot  be  demonstrated.  The 
Nation  has  lived  through  it,  many  years  have  gone  by  since 
the  financial  affairs  of  the  Government  have  been  placed 
upon  solid  ground  and  the  value  of  its  paper  established, 
equal  to  its  coin. 

Appointment  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
as  Lieutenant  General. 

When  the  President  delivered  the  commission  of  Lieuten- 
ant General  to  General  Grant,  the  members  of  the  Cabinet 
were  Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State;  Mr.  Chase,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury;  Mr.  Stanton  (successor  to  Mr.  Cameron), 
Secretary  of  War ;  Mr.  Welles,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  Mr.  Blair, 
Postmaster  General;  Mr.  Bates,  Attorney  General;  and  my- 
self, Secretary  of  the  Interior.  Of  these  and  all  present  upon 
that  occasion,  with  the  exception  of  General  Grant,  I  am  the 
sole  survivor. 

Mr.  Lincoln  thought  it  fit  and  proper  to  convene  the 
Cabinet  to  witness  the  ceremony.  Upon  my  entering  the 
room  of  the  President  all  of  the  Cabinet  were  present  with 
the  exception  of  Mr.  Stanton.  Soon  after  I  inquired  of  the 
President  why  we  were  summoned;  he  made  no  direct  answer. 
Whether  the  other  members  present  knew  why  they  were 

31 


called  I  do  not  know.  The  President  seemed  to  be  in  good 
spirits,  which  made  me  wonder  the  more  why  we  were  there; 
but  I  supposed  in  due  time  I  would  find  out,  and  listened  to 
the  conversations  going  on.  The  President  had  not  much 
order  in  the  arranging  and  keeping  of  his  papers;  his  table 
was  generally  filled  up  with  papers  as  long  as  they  would 
lie  on  it.  He  did  not  seem  to  have  any  difficulty  in  finding 
any  paper  that  he  wanted  amongst  the  huge  mass  thrown 
promiscuously  there.  Presently  Mr.  Stanton,  General  Hal- 
leck  and  General  Grant  entered  the  room.  Without  accosting 
the  President  or  any  one  present,  they  moved  rapidly  to  the 
far  side  of  this  table  and  stopped  facing  the  table,  with 
General  Grant  between  General  Halleck  and  Mr.  Stanton. 
The  President  was  on  the  opposite  side.  As  they  stopped 
and  were  in  the  position  described,  the  President  arose  and 
took  from  the  table  a  scroll  tin  case,  opened  it  and  took  out 
the  parchment  commission.  He  then  took  from  the  pile  of 
papers  upon  the  table  what  soon  proved  to  be  his  address  to 
General  Grant,  the  precise  words  of  which  I  cannot  remember, 
neither  have  I  a  copy.  As  well  as  I  can  remember,  it  ran  nearly 
in  these  words: 

"General  Grant — The  Congress  of  the  United  States 
recently  passed  a  law  creating  the  office  of  Lieutenant  General. 
It  seemed  to  be  the  will  of  Congress,  as  well  as  of  the  people, 
in  which  I  heartily  concur,  that  the  office  should  be  conferred 
upon  you.  You  were  nominated  to  the  Senate  for  the  office 
and  the  nomination  was  confirmed.  I  now  present  you  your 
commission.' '  As  he  said  that  he  handed  to  General  Grant 
the  commission,  and  then  concluded:  'The  loyal  people  of 
the  Nation  look  to  you,  under  the  providence  of  God,  to  lead 
their  armies  to  victory." 

After  the  lapse  of  twenty-one  years,  it  cannot  be  expected 
that  any  one  could  remember  the  precise  words  of  the  Presi- 
dent, though  I  believe  I  have  given  them  quite  accurately. 
Then  General  Grant  took  from  his  vest  pocket  a  paper  con- 
taining the  response  to  the  President.  The  substance  of  it 
I  cannot  recollect;  I  do  not  now  remember  a  single  sentence 
or  phrase  in  it.  But  I  do  remember  that  the  paper  upon  which 
it  was  written  was  probably  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  sheet; 
that  he  held  the  paper  in  his  right  hand  and  commenced 
reading  it,  and  read  probably  half  of  it,  when  his  voice  gave 
out.    Evidently  he  had  not  contemplated  the  effort  of  reading, 

32 


and  had  commenced  without  inflating  his  lungs.  When  Gen- 
eral Grant  commenced  reading  he  was  standing  most  awk- 
wardly, what  in  common  parlance  would  be  called  "hip  shot." 
When  his  voice  failed  he  straightened  himself  up  in  his  fullest 
and  best  form,  threw  his  shoulders  back,  took  the  paper  in 
both  hands,  one  at  each  end,  and  drew  the  paper  up  within 
proper  reading  distance  and  commenced  again  at  the  begin- 
ning and  read  it  through  in  a  full  strong  voice.  As  he  straight- 
ened himself  up  and  took  the  paper  in  his  hands  it  seemed 
to  me  that  he  was  thinking  to  himself  "I  can  read  this  paper 
without  faltering,  and  I  am  going  to  do  it".  And  he  did. 
After  it  was  read,  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  were  introduced 
to  General  Grant.  I  had  never  before  seen  him,  neither  do  I 
think  any  other  member  of  the  Cabinet  had  seen  him.  Mr. 
Lincoln  directly  said  to  General  Grant,  "I  have  never  met  you 
before".  Grant  replied,  "Yes,  you  have;  I  heard  you  in  your 
debate  with  Douglas  at  Freeport,  and  was  there  introduced 
to  you.  Of  course,  I  could  not  forget  you,  neither  could  I 
expect  you  to  remember  me,  because  multitudes  were  intro- 
duced to  you  on  that  occasion".  Mr.  Lincoln  replied,  "That 
is  so,  and  I  do  not  think  I  could  be  expected  to  remember  all". 
It  seemed  then,  as  it  seems  today,  to  be  a  remarkable  fact  that 
neither  the  President  nor  any  member  of  his  Cabinet,  up  to 
that  time,  had  any  personal  acquaintance  with  General  Grant. 
None  of  us  had,  to  our  knowledge,  ever  seen  him.  We  had 
heard  of  him.  From  the  battle  of  Pittsburg  Landing  to  the 
battle  of  Iuka  and  Corinth  the  reports  were  as  often  disparag- 
ing as  they  were  favorable.  General  Grant  never  sent  anyone 
to  propitiate  or  make  favor  with  the  President.  After  the 
battle  of  Corinth,  Judge  Dickey,  now  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Illinois,  and  a  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  came  to 
Washington  from  Grant's  camp  and  gave  such  a  favorable 
account  of  him  as,  I  believe,  gained  from  Mr.  Lincoln  his 
fullest  confidence  in  Grant's  abilities,  and  this  confidence  was 
never  broken,  nor  in  the  least  abated.  I  heard  Mr.  Lincoln 
say,  on  one  occasion,  "General  Grant  is  the  most  extraordi- 
nary man  in  command  that  I  know  of."  He  said:  "I  heard 
nothing  direct  from  him,  and  wrote  to  him  to  know  why, 
and  whether  I  could  do  anything  to  promote  his  success,  and 
Grant  replied  that  he  had  tried  to  do  the  best  he  could  with 
what  he  had;  that  he  believed  if  he  had  more  men  and  arms 
he  could  use  them  to  good  advantage  and  do  more  than  he 
had  done,  but  he  supposed  I  had  done  and  was  doing  all  I 

33 


could;  that  if  I  could  do  more  he  felt  that  I  would  do  it." 
Lincoln  said  that  Grant's  conduct  was  so  different  from  other 
generals  in  command  that  he  could  scarcely  comprehend  it. 

It  was  not  until  after  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  that 
Grant  sent  anyone  to  the  President  direct  from  his  army. 
Then  he  sent  General  Rawlins.  I  met  him  at  the  White 
House  and  was  introduced  to  him  by  the  President.  Evidently 
Rawlins  knew  more  of  the  field  than  of  the  court.  He  was 
browned  and  sun-burned ;  he  sat  close  in  the  corner  of  the  fire- 
place and  appeared  embarrassed  to  know  what  to  do  with  his 
hands.  He  had  provided  himself  with  a  new  military  suit  of 
blue  which  hung  loose  upon  his  emaciated  limbs.  He  was 
free  to  answer  questions  when  asked,  but  showed  no  disposi- 
tion to  enlarge  his  speech  beyond  the  appropriate  answer.  He 
was  modest,  and  it  was  plain  that  he  was  neither  carpet  knight 
nor  courtier.  He  did  not  come  to  ask  for  anything,  but  the 
time  of  his  coming  and  his  manner  naturally  led  to  the  im- 
pression that  Grant  concluded  that,  after  nearly  three  years 
of  successful  war,  he  might,  without  being  charged  with 
vanity,  send  his  chief  of  staff  to  the  President  and  Secretary 
of  War  to  relate  to  them,  if  they  wanted  to  know,  incidents 
of  his  conflicts  which  might  not  be  embraced  in  his  reports. 
And  well  he  might.  In  the  language  of  John  A.  Logan,  his 
army  had  with  their  swords  hewn  their  way  to  the  sea.  But 
I  digress.  I  was  prompted  to  write  in  order  to  relate,  as  far 
as  I  could  remember,  what  took  place  when  Mr.  Lincoln 
delivered  General  Grant  his  commission.  His  address  to 
Grant  and  Grant's  reply  doubtless  may  be  found  published 
in  the  press  of  that  time.  I  hope  they  may  be  found  and 
published.  Mr.  Lincoln  thought  the  occasion  of  sufficient 
moment  to  summon  the  Cabinet.  There  now  remain  none 
but  General  Grant  and  myself  who  were  present  on  that 
interesting  occasion,  and  it  can  hardly  be  expected  that  he 
will  find  time  in  the  midst  of  his  sufferings  to  describe  it. 
Perchance  he  may  have  described  the  scene  in  his  writings, 
and  it  is  quite  probable  that  Messrs.  Hay  and  Nicolay,  who 
are  preparing  a  biography  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  may  have  the  ori- 
ginals. 


34 


